Re: Autoloading and anonymous subs

[shmem]

Does $Foo::foo->() not mean locate the sub in the package Foo?

No. $Foo::foo is a symbol living in the symbol table Foo, that's granted; but its contents must not neccessarily refer to package Foo. So the normal method lookup rules apply. Which means that AUTOLOAD in the package main is found first.

update: If the content of $Foo::foo is a sub reference in the Foo namespace, the Foo AUTOLOAD is found, eg

$Foo::foo = \&Foo::bar;
print $Foo::foo->(); # Foo

[haoess]

And it's always the main package:

package Foo;
sub AUTOLOAD { __PACKAGE__ }
print $foo->();

package main;
sub AUTOLOAD { __PACKAGE__ }
__END__
main

I just can't find the documentation for this behaviour.

-- Frank

[shmem]

You are calling an undefined coderef. This coderef (which isn't, being just nothing, or not existing) has no association with any package, albeit the variable holding "that nothingness" (if nothing can be something) has. Now, how should perl resolve that sensibly? There's no package, there's no code, there's no sub. Hence the default package (main), and as last resort, AUTOLOAD.

The documentation is implicit in perlsub, perlref, ...

[rir]

How do you take the address of a sub that needs to be AUTOLOADed before it is AUTOLOADed? Hmmm?

Be well,
rir

[shmem]

*shrug* I just do. It's a magic called autovivification :-P
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